From knock-off old-man's electric vehicles to industrial giant

Chapter 182 Starry Sky 3C Ultra-thin Magnetic Power Bank

"That's even simpler. However, the capacity of a single battery cell is still a bit less than that of power banks on the market that often have tens of thousands of mAh. By connecting several cells in series, we should be able to make a square power bank. We can even put our Starry Sky logo on it..."

Dong Yuxuan responded.

This is something that DIY enthusiasts can make by hand.

It's even easier for them.

But to his surprise, Xu Yi's next words stunned him.

"No, who said we were going to make big bricks?"

Xu Yi interrupted him.

"What I mean is that we can make an ultra-thin magnetic wireless power bank, with the capacity supported by a single battery cell, 3000 mAh would be enough."

The current market.

The national standard 3C certification has only just been announced, yet bulky power banks are still all the rage.

Forget about 10,000 or 20,000 mAh, you're practically a 50,000 or 100,000 mAh power bank.

There are many enthusiasts who love to DIY "civilian C4" devices, as well as manufacturers of varying quality.

Moreover, these power bank manufacturers mostly use inferior battery cells.

The manufacturing process and protection circuits are also quite poor, and basically do not meet national standards.

After a period of use, they bulge, get punctured by impacts, and start smoking; nine out of ten are like this.

Searching for news articles alone has caused numerous accidents.

The most outrageous.

Everyone is still trapped in the capacity trap of thinking "bigger is better, and better is bigger".

The power bank they were carrying was bigger than their fist, completely negating the purpose of portability. Street-shared power banks aren't much bigger either.

Furthermore, there is no magnetic wireless charging available on the market at all!
-

"Ultra-thin, magnetic charging?! Wireless charging?!"

Not surprisingly.

Dong Yuxuan was stunned, a thoughtful expression on his face.

"Mr. Xu, I know about wireless charging, but what is a magnetic power bank?"
Should I add a magnetic ring to the power bank?
But even phones that support wireless charging don't seem to have a magnetic ring on the back, right?

He was confused.

Wow—what kind of product definition is this??

Wireless magnetic coil charging technology appeared very early on.

However, its widespread adoption in the mobile phone industry only occurred between the year before last and this year.

The first company to develop wireless charging was a brand called Palm, which launched the world's first phone to support wireless charging, the Palm Pre. However, because the brand was too niche, it received virtually no attention.

It wasn't until Samsung released its flagship models two years ago, all of which supported wireless charging, and then the iPhone 8 and iPhone X were released this year, that this technology came into the public eye.

It's fair to say that most domestic Android phones, apart from Samsung and Apple, do not yet feature wireless charging.

Not to mention magnetic wireless charging, which doesn't even support magnetic charging on the back of the phone.

Similar MagSafe back magnetic technology was not introduced until 20 years later.

In order to allocate more space to the battery, the Android camp has long not supported native magnetic charging on the back.

Therefore, it is normal for Dong Yuxuan to have doubts.

Anyone who heard Xu Yi's product definition requirements would find it very strange!
Ultra-thin design and wireless charging are one thing.

Isn't this magnetic attraction a bit excessive?

"Qi electromagnetic induction wireless charging requires alignment to achieve accurate wireless charging, so I wonder why not also include a magnetic alignment function? People on foreign forums have been discussing this issue for a while now."

Xu Yi then attributed his inspiration to foreign forums, because wireless charging technology came out quite early and there were already related discussions, but its industrial applications and mobile phone development came later.

Take the current batch of mobile phones that support wireless charging as an example. The highest power is only 15W, and the wireless charger does not have magnetic attraction, nor are there any corresponding auxiliary accessories or magnetic phone cases.

This is really hard to believe.

In the first few days after its release, it was generally considered a pointless and unnecessary technique.

“We could design a circular, hollow magnetic sheet, stick it to the back of the phone, and then achieve magnetic docking with our ultra-thin power bank. Or we could simply use a phone case and integrate the magnetic sheet into it. Buy a power bank and get a free phone case. This way, we can achieve seamless magnetic charging.”

As Xu Yi spoke, the eyes of everyone present widened even more.

This system is considered a mature solution from a few years ago. It has MagSafe back magnetic attachment for direct connection, while for those without this native magnetic attachment, a magnetic strip or phone case can be used.

The key lies in the concepts of magnetic attraction and ultra-thin design.

Why do ultra-thin power banks, despite their low capacity, continue to increase in price?
The key point lies in the word "thin"!

The weight after applying it is less than 100 grams.

It can be considered part of the phone, similar to a secondary fuel tank.

Dong Yuxuan's eyes grew brighter and brighter.

This was the first time he had ever heard of this power bank concept and solution, and the fact that it turned out to be quite impressive was surprising.

"Okay, let's first get a highly integrated circuit board, and then work with the design team to come up with a complete casing solution."

He nodded repeatedly.

Then Xu Yi casually said:

"Well, don't put too much pressure on us. As for the design, we can just benchmark against Apple. The key is to make it as thin as possible. I have faith in everyone's innovative abilities."

A casual remark.

Some people are already sweating profusely.

Is it appropriate to casually compare it to Apple?
It also needs to be made as thin as possible?
This doesn't sound simple or casual at all! Of course.

Xu Yi had great confidence in his team's capabilities. They had created a highly integrated power bank, and with a little more refinement in the design, achieving the functions he envisioned shouldn't be a problem.

Technically, there are definitely no difficulties.

As for the appearance and design, how to achieve simplicity and sophistication, while also being ultra-thin and extremely lightweight?

That would really test your skills.

There's no other way but to painstakingly design it!

-

After the high-level R&D meeting.

the next day.

Xu Yi met with the head of Qualcomm's autonomous driving business as scheduled.

The location is in the reception room of the Xingchen Technology Building.

After graduating from the Department of Electronic Engineering at Tsinghua University, Wu Xinzhou went to the United States for further studies. After graduation, he joined the communications startup Flarion, which was later acquired by Qualcomm. He then joined the global communications giant and was in charge of Qualcomm's autonomous driving business for four years before leaving the company.

He also participated in the planning of Qualcomm's acquisition of NXP.

NXP is considered a top player in the global automotive semiconductor industry.

Qualcomm wants to enter the automotive industry and transform from a "mobile chip manufacturer" to an "autonomous driving supplier," which requires it to quickly integrate the underlying control, communication, and security chips. NXP, as a manufacturer that can provide complete ADAS semiconductor solutions, is exactly what Qualcomm needs.

but.

Starting in October of last year, Qualcomm made a big announcement about its plan to acquire NXP for $38 billion, and later increased the offer to $44 billion, while also submitting review applications to nine antitrust agencies around the world.

Then it got stuck.

That's right.

The Chinese anti-monopoly agency rejected the case outright.

Without the slightest hesitation.

In China, the review period for anti-monopoly agencies is six months.

However, there are also industry rumors that Qualcomm had submitted applications to the Ministry of Commerce of China twice in the previous four months.

Anyone with eyesight can see it.

It's impossible to succeed.

joke.

If the acquisition succeeds, Qualcomm could monopolize 60% of the chip and automotive semiconductor market.

Will the other people still play?
Domestic companies like Huawei and SMIC, as well as the domestic semiconductor industry, will suffer.

This situation is also awkward for Wu Xinzhou, the head of Qualcomm's autonomous driving division.

If the underlying solutions for the entire vehicle cannot be quickly established, then the previous accumulation of Qualcomm's autonomous driving department will be in vain. Even if there are talented people, there will be no room for them to make a difference. If he stays at Qualcomm, there will be no room for development, and his performance returns and career advancement will not be guaranteed.

And it's not just one company in the industry that's offering autonomous driving roadmaps; Nvidia, Google, and even Tesla, the vehicle manufacturer, all intend to make autonomous driving a core development goal for the next decade.

If Qualcomm fails to acquire NXP, it means it's out of options, and the idea of ​​overtaking its competitors will become a joke.

but.

In the past six months, Wu Xinzhou noticed the booming development of new energy vehicles in China.

Data shows that the growth rate of new energy vehicles in China has been astonishing in the past two years, and the news that Tesla will enter China has been basically confirmed.

Coupled with policy and energy factors, it is almost certain to be the next largest new energy vehicle market and intelligent driving stage.

Although China's semiconductor and chip industry cannot keep up with the world's top players, it is a natural testing ground.

If a large enough sample size can be obtained, it will be a significant advantage for iterative verification of the algorithm.

After all, the amount of data and scenarios required for the early stages of autonomous driving is almost astronomical, which is something that intelligent driving solution providers can hardly compare with best-selling vehicle manufacturers.

At worst, we can first verify the algorithm and solution with Chinese car companies, and there will still be a wide range of options later.

In short, it's definitely better than staying at Qualcomm.

According to his vision, in the later stages of development, intelligent driving will inevitably be inseparable from dedicated intelligent driving chips.

This means that large algorithms are bound to high-performance computing chips.

Although China currently lacks chip manufacturing capabilities, it can still verify their capabilities through early and mid-term overseas procurement.

From the moment they met to the moment they got to know each other, it only took a few words.

Wu Xinzhou had conducted a detailed investigation of Xingchen Motors before this, and Xingchen had also analyzed Wu Xinzhou in detail.

Xingchen needs someone to quickly lead the autonomous driving business team, while Wu Xinzhou needs a stage to showcase his abilities.

Their eyes met, and their intentions were clear to each other.

“Dr. Wu, if you are willing to return to China, Xingchen Motors is definitely your first choice. No one in China values ​​R&D and intelligent driving more than our company, and we also have enough sales volume to support the rapid verification and iteration of algorithms.”

Xu Yi smiled faintly and got straight to the point.

As mentioned before, top-tier intelligent driving talent is very expensive, but this high cost is not only reflected in annual salary and benefits.

In fact, there are very few car companies that can afford to burn money to support an entire intelligent driving team.

"I met with the person in charge of XPeng once before. They were very friendly, and returning to China to develop my career is also one of my aspirations..."

Wu Xinzhou thought for a moment.

"But after seeing the stars, I realized that this is the place most suitable for me to stay."

……

(End of this chapter)